Designer of the Month

Xiaowei Hu is a Chinese-French knitwear designer living and working in Lille, France. She specialises in clean, modern knits, many of which are sized for both women and children for bonus twinning fun.

Designer of the Month for September 2020 is Shin Knudsen - Shinysuperhero Shin Knudsen, also known as shinysuperhero, is a Danish crafter. She was taught to knit as a child by a family friend and, after taking a break from knitting in her teens, picked up her needles again in her mid-twenties. 

Kwannie Cheng is the designer behind Studio Manya and is based in The Netherlands. While on maternity leave in 2013, she learnt the basics of crochet from a neighbour

You might recognise Julia from our Staff Spotlight section, because in addition to being a knitwear designer, she used to be the Operations Manager here at Stephen & Penelope. 

Rebecca McKenzie is the knitwear designer and creator of the Raging Purlwind brand. The brand grew out of Rebecca’s desire to create clothes that would fit her body rather than trying to make her body fit into her clothes. 

Noriko is the knitwear and crochet designer behind Norichan Knits. She has been knitting, spinning, and crocheting for over 15 years now, and while she published her first pattern in 2008.

After spending over a decade in corporate finance, Tian Connaughton turned her part-time side hustle as a crochet and knitwear designer and sought-after technical editor into a full-time business.

Former Graphic Designer and Track & Field Heptathlete, Jimenez Joseph took up knitting after severely dislocating her knee joint.

Tina Tse designs and manages a team that works on industrial knitting machines by day and creates hand knitting pattern designs by night.

Noma Ndlovu is a knitwear designer based in Johannesburg, South Africa. She has been knitting since she was five years old and was fortunate to be born into a family that valued creativity and taught her a lot at such a young age.

I'm Malia, I'm the founder and co-owner of Stephen and Penelope, and when I grow up I want to be a designer. It is November Designer of the Month time, and my staff has convinced me that I should have a go!

Nancy Marchant, a.k.a. the Queen Mother of Brioche, has studied the nuances of this European stitch for more than 20 years. 

Mara Licole is the designer behind Mara Licole Knits. She creates designs that are soulful.

Frenchie of Aroha Knits works as a knitwear designer and coach, she inspires and empowers fibre artists to transform their yarn so they can manifest “Aroha”, one stitch at a time.

After leaving her life as a pastry chef to start a family, Andrea's hands found the necessary freedom to begin creating with fibre instead of flour. 

Jeanette Sloan is a designer, maker, tutor, and writer based in the seaside town of Brighton & Hove, England. 

This month's Designer of the Month is Lavanya Patricella, a knitting instructor and designer based in North Eastern Pennsylvania.

Jenn Steingass is a Maine-based knitwear designer in love with all things knitting, colour, wool, and circular yoke sweaters. 

Safiyyah Talley is a knitwear designer, teacher, blogger, and podcaster working out of her country style ranch in an unofficial town in central Indiana.

Tori Seierstad has been knitting since she was five years old. She grew up and still lives in Lillehammer, Norway, where the winters are cold and snowy, and wool is welcome.

Designer of the Month January La Maison Rililie"As most knitters out there I had learned how to knit in school and started once more after a really big pause during a long stay in Edinburgh."

Designer of the Month December is Fiona Alice. Fiona is a Canadian knitwear designer, originally from Halifax, Nova Scotia, but now resides in Helsinki, Finland.

Designer of the Month November is Paula Pereira. Paula is a legitimate “carioca” as they say in Brazil, as she was born in the beautiful city of Rio de Janeiro.

Designer of the Month October is Laura Nelkin. Laura lives in the Fingerlakes region of New York, where the sunny season is short leaving plenty of time to be indoors knitting.

Designer of the Month is back after a summer hiatus with local favourite Alice Caetano. Alice Caetano is a graphic designer, knitter, cat lady, and night owl, originally from Brazil and raised in The Netherlands

Designer of the Month of May is Olga Buraya-Kefelian. Olga learned knitting from her mother at a very young age while growing up in Belarus.

Designer of the Month April is Melanie Berg. German designer Melanie Berg is a favourite of both clients and staff at Stephen and Penelope.

Designer of the Month March is Thea Colman. Thea became a knitwear designer almost by accident. After working in various advertising agencies, she took a break to be home with her young daughters and fell into knitwear design.

Our very special Designer of the Month for February is Susan Crawford. This Designer of the Month is actually coming to Amsterdam to show us her samples in person!

Our Designer of the Month for January is Isabell Kraemer. Her stunning contemporary designs have been published in Laine Magazine, Amirisu, and Vogue Knitting among others. 

Designer of the month December is Natasja Hornby. Natasja Hornby is the woman behind the striking designs of Moonstruck Knits.